Valencia, Hart soccer set for title game

Foothill League play is still more than two weeks away, but the two teams most expect to vie for the league title — Valencia and Hart — will get an early look at each other in Monday’s Hart Soccer Showcase tournament final.

Whether either team will show its true colors in the preleague matchup, though, remains to be seen.

“We’ll play our game,” said first-year Hart head coach Guilherme Mitrovitch. “I don’t know if (Valencia) will try to change, but we’ll play our game and our strongest team. It’s at home and we’ll try and come out on top.”

The Indians will have a chance to show it can compete with the defending league champion Vikings because of their 3-0 victory over Granada Hills on Saturday at The Master’s College in the tournament semifinal.

Hart (5-2-1) got on the board 10 minutes into the game on an own goal, before tacking on goals from Brianna Diaz and Jenny Chavez.

Chavez’s goal was set up by Danielle Spickard, who showcased her skill in the midfield to find Anna Sarno down on the wing — who sent a cross into Chavez for the goal.

Despite not scoring in the second half, the Indians kept up the pressure and shot wide on multiple attempts, including a skilled play up the middle by Destinney Duron, who shook a defender and blasted a shot from 16 yards just left of goal.

“For us, it’s to make sure to go in and hard every second of the game, play through it,” Duron said of the aggressiveness.

Across town, the Vikings (9-1-1) made quick work of Centennial of Bakersfield, winning 3-0 at Hart High School.

Sara Silvestro opened up the scoring for Valencia, which also received goals from Bailey Reid and Kaylee Woodard, all in the first half.

The victory was Valencia goalkeeper Nicole Joseph’s third shutout of the tournament, with Valencia picking up 2-0 wins over Taft and Knight on Friday.

Now, they’ll move on to Monday’s championship game where they’ll get their first look at the rival Indians.

“I don’t know what they’re going to do,” said Valencia head coach Sean O’Connell. “I’m going to play a game that gets us out without injury. I think if we play our game, we should be able to come out with the victory.”